Lääkärillä ei ole autoa.

Breakdown of Lääkärillä ei ole autoa.

olla
to be
auto
car
ei
no / not (negative verb)
lääkäri
doctor

Questions & Answers about Lääkärillä ei ole autoa.

Why does the word for doctor have the -llä ending here?
Finnish doesn't have a direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, it uses a structure that literally translates to 'at someone is'. The -llä ending on lääkäri means 'at the doctor'. When paired with the words for 'is not' (ei ole), it creates the meaning 'the doctor does not have'.
Why does lääkäri take the -llä ending instead of -lla?
This is due to vowel harmony. Because the word lääkäri contains the front vowel ä (and no back vowels like a, o, or u), any endings attached to it must also use front vowels. Therefore, we use -llä instead of -lla.
Why is the verb ei ole instead of ei on?
In Finnish, negative sentences use the negative verb (ei for he/she/it) followed by the main verb in a special base form. The base form of on (is) is ole. So, ei ole is the correct way to say 'is not' or 'does not have'.
Why is the word for car written as autoa instead of just auto?
Autoa is in the partitive case, marked by the -a ending. In a negative 'have' sentence (when someone does not have something), the thing they do not have must always take this partitive ending.

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